Anshu Shrivastava

Stories from Anshu Shrivastava

Europe’s loss is Southeast Asia’s gain as this region recorded a 13 percent increase in foreign tourist arrivals this summer due to the recent depreciation of the Indian rupee.

Indians typically travel a lot during the summer vacations of their schoolgoing kids, and most prefer far away destinations such as the US and Europe. But this year all ‘roads’ are leading to Southeast Asian desti¬nations, as the rising dollar has made trips to the West very expensive. The Indian ru¬pee has remained between 52 to 56 against the US dollar for more than a month now and this has made overseas travel to West¬ern countries 1530 percent costlier.

India’s economic growth rate may have slowed recently but its Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry hasn’t lost its ‘attractive’ and ‘tremendous potential’ status. It’s still one of the fastest growing industries in the country and is poised to achieve a growth rate of 13 percent in 2012.The industry is witnessing growth across all its mediums and whatever the time and mood, entertainment is always in demand. According to market reports, M&E industry is rapidly evolving and new opportunities are emerging to fuel its spectacular growth rate.Jehil Thakkar, head of media and enter¬tainment at KPMG, told the media earlier this year that, backed by the strong con¬sumption in Tier 2 and 3 cities along with continued growth of regional media and fast increasing new media business, the Indian Media and Entertainment industry grew by 12 percent in 2011 to Rs 72,800 crore ($US15 billion).

As one of the fastest growing economies of the world, India is ramping up its nuclear energy sector to meet its burgeoning energy demands. In the quest for nuclear energy, the country has signed civilian nuclear power cooperation pacts with a number of countries, including the US, France, Russia, Canada, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Argentina, Namibia, and South Korea, which became the ninth country with which India signed such an agreement.

Trade relations between India and South Korea have strengthened over the years. Both countries are now setting their sights on doubling their annual trade to US$40 billion by 2015. As one of the primary growth Asian economies, South Korea is among the ten major investors in India, which is one of the most dynamic economies of the world with still huge room for further growth.

Scheduled to take place in Seoul from March 26 to 27, 2012, the “2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit” will discuss issues such as cooperative measures to combat the threat of nuclear terrorism; protection of nuclear materials and related facilities; and prevention of illicit trafficking of nuclear materials.

The competition in the Indian small car market is heating up, and the upcoming months will see a pitched battle between all the major automobile companies to grab a chunk of this high-volume selling market space.

The Indian pharmaceutical industry in recent years has grown in stature from an industry that copies patent drugs and manufactures them cheaply. It’s now counted among the industries that are fueling India’s economic growth and holds vast potential. India-based pharmaceutical companies are also predicted to gain considerable market share in the world by the end of this decade.

Indian companies are no longer the frogs in the well of the licensee-raj era. They have transformed into long distance birds, flying out of Indian business boundaries to find new markets and potential companies for acquisition, merger and investment.

A decade back, the news of acquisition overseas by an Indian company would have created ripples, generated glee as well as raised eye-brows; but now, it has become the trend and the norm. The confidence level of Indian companies has grown manifold, and they have become more adept at successfully acquiring and managing companies overseas. “Indian companies are now more experienced in dealing with overseas M&A transactions and are considered serious contenders for acquiring global businesses,” Mahad Narayanamoni, a partner in the corporate finance division of Grant Thornton, said in an article published in the Financial Times.

The development and economics of the world revolve around energy. Both developed and developing countries are nowadays seeking alternative resources of energy to cut down on their overdependence on natural resources that are rapidly being depleted.

The telecommunications market is metamorphosing into a new story everyday, and its technology and devices are evolving rapidly, almost at a record speed. The good old landline phone is slowly crawling out of the present and into history, while its successor, the mobile phone, is imbibing new advanced technologies and features to redefine the way people use phones to communicate.

India is one of the major importers of defense equipment, and it depends highly on foreign suppliers to fulfil the requirements of its defense forces.

Currently, imports amount to nearly 70% of India’s total defense expenditure. While the country has been on a quest to become militarily self-reliant in producing equipment and systems that feature the indigenous “Made in India” tag, it has thus far failed to achieve strategic autonomy. A plethora of reasons have hampered the creation of a strong industrial base for the defense sector, not the least of which has been the half-hearted policies of the Indian government that have prevented private players from investing in this crucial sphere.

In January, Korean steel giant POSCO finally received the green light from the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) of the Government of India (GOI), for the $12 billion project in Orissa -- the state which is located on the east coast of India.

The project is comprised of a steel plant, a captive port and a minor port. However, the clearance for this project comes with several new riders, directing the company to meet a series of environmental standards.

Cloud Computing is touted as the next big trend in the IT industry that is set to redefine the way enterprises do business. It’s the rage today and a growing number of companies are devoting a significant part of their IT budget to cloud-based services, in order to lessen the demand on their IT resources, to work smarter, and be cost-effective.